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While toiling away to make their own audio drama Infinite Variations as badass as humanly possible, the Lords and Masters of OneOfUs have bestowed upon me the right to review Big Finish’s Doctor Who audio dramas. For any who don’t know, Big Finish is a company that makes full-length (and often full cast) audio dramas including Doctor Who, Blake’s 7, Judge Dredd, Highlander, Sherlock Holmes and a few inventions of their own.The Doctor is Big Finish’s bread and butter and their dedication to Who is boundless. For example, aside from being the current voice of the Daleks and other Who baddies on the TV show, Nicholas Briggs is co-executive producer of all of Big Finish’s projects and often lends his voice and writing talents to the various ranges. Now that’s love!

But enough with this preamble crap, on to the review.

Phantasmagoria (1999) is the second Doctor Who story Big Finish ever released. One thing they nailed is the feel of the show. Nothing feels out of place for Doctor Who tonally or structurally. Big Finish didn’t try to jazz things up and modernize elements. Instead they chose here (and in almost all of their Who work) to make it in as close to the style of classic Who as they could. The story focuses on the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) and his companion Turlough (Mark Strickson) as they investigate a mysterious set of disappearances and deaths of young men plaguing 1702 London’s streets. The Doctor and Turlough are separarated almost immediately and it is interesting to see the paths they both take take to investigate the mystery and try to find the other, only to get split up yet again. Both men track the case back to the Diabola Club, where someone is playing a much darker game than the usual games of chance.

It is interesting to go back and listen to Davison’s voice. In a few years time, his voice would change slightly and become more gravely but here before the change he was better able to adopt a tone and delivery similar to what he had in the TV show. Additionally, Strickson also slips back into both Turlough’s snarkiness and evasiveness with relative ease. Special commendation should be given to the frequenters to the Diabola Club. The actors deliver just the right blend of extravagance and foppishness that not only makes them a delight to hear, but adds an air of authenticity because while the Diabola Club itself is fictitious, places like it did actually exist and such characters as the ones in the story did frequent such establishments.

Despite a script from the likes of Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, various Doctor Who TV episodes) the simple story, music, mixing, and overall sound design leads to a product that isn’t quite up to the standards Big Finish would soon achieve only a few entries later in the series. The run time is also short of main ranges standard 120 minutes, clocking in at only slim 89 minutes instead. While the story is serviceable and there isn’t a bad performance across the board, it is just that, serviceable. Big Finish has been really cool and reduced Phantasmagoria (and in fact, the entire first 50 entries in the series) to a meager $2.99 for download, but even with this in mind I can’t recommend anyone save the biggest Who fanatics pick this one up. The whole thing is done well and the asking price is about as good as anyone could hope for, but nothing here elevates it to any form of greatness or required listening. Fans of the classic series will enjoy it, but otherwise it is entirely skippable.

He may have said to never tell him the odds, but it looks like our favorite space smuggler has his own measure of probability to share: 50/50.

During an interview on The Graham Norton Show promoting his upcoming film Ender’s Game, Harrison Ford revealed that he is still undecided about reprising his iconic role of Han Solo in Star Wars Episode VII. He simply said, “I’ve not quite made the choice”, keeping with the hush-hush attitude he’s been projecting ever since speculation of him returning, as well as Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, started to run rampant. This comes after he dodged the question back in April on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, although that was during a staged part of the interview. Episode VII, directed by J.J. Abrams, is still slated for a 2015 release.

Now, for anyone who thinks that Ford will eventually cave in to coming back to what made him a star and that this is just a tease, this news might not be as easy to write off as you think. If you read up on the production of Return of the Jedi, you’ll find that Ford wanted Han Solo to die in the film to give the end of the saga a bit more ‘oomph’ as well as give Ford an excuse to retire the character, but the idea was shot down by George Lucas for marketing reasons. So really, if you think about it, Ford might want to stick to his thirty-year-old guns and not appear in Episode VII, which could be a major bummer for a lot of Star Wars fans, including me. But right now, seeing that he gave an ambiguous answer with no contempt, there’s still a chance that he’ll come back to play the nerf-herder we know and love. Let’s just hope an announcement happens within the month, because coming Halloween it’ll be a year since Disney announced their acquisition of Lucasfilm and the production of Episode VII, and I haven’t got my fill of details to ponder and get excited over!

What do you guys think? Do you think Ford will come back to play Solo once again? Would you mind if he didn’t? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

Via MirrorTV

Quentin Tarantino has always been a man that inspired controversy, but he’s always held a very special place in a lot of the geek community’s heart. However, recent comments from the acclaimed director gave very special place one heck of an earthquake. Tarantino mildly defended his love for The Lone Ranger, a movie he loved so much he put it as number 9 of his top 10 movies of 2013 so far, which came as a surprise to most people.

He had this to say in defense of The Lone Ranger (though he backtracks quite a bit in my opinion):

“The first forty-five minutes are excellent … the next forty-five minutes are a little soporific. It was a bad idea to split the bad guys in two groups; it takes hours to explain and nobody cares. Then comes the train scene — incredible! When I saw it, I kept thinking, ‘What, that’s the film that everybody says is crap? Seriously?'”

* Warning SPOILER Ahead*

“That being said, I still have a little problem with the film. I like Tonto’s backstory — the idea that his tribe got slaughtered because of him; that’s a real comic-book thing. But the slaughter of the tribe, by gunfire, from the cavalry, it left a bitter taste in my mouth. … The Indians have really been victims of a genocide. So slaughtering them again in an entertaining movie, Buster Keaton style… That ruined the fun a bit for me. I simply found it…ugly.”

*Spoiler Over*

If you think his opinion on The Lone Ranger was misguided, just read what he said about Ben Affleck’s upcoming role of Batman.

“I have to admit that I don’t really have an opinion. Why? Because Batman is not a very interesting character. For any actor. There is simply not much to play. I think Michael Keaton did it the best, and I wish good luck to Ben Affleck. But, you know who would have made a great Batman? Alec Baldwin in the ’80s.”

I actually don’t mind his love for The Lone Ranger. To me that just shows a bit about his taste in movies, and Tarantino has certainly always had some odd favorites. I think this movie speaks to him more from a director’s point of view then anything else. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a train scene in one of his film in the near future.

As for his opinion of Batman, I don’t think I could disagree with him more. I believe Batman is a fascinating character. Is he my favorite superhero? Not by a long shot, but I still love the character and to write him off as uninteresting just seems odd. The character has so much depth and complexity. Even now 74 years after his first comic book appearance we still haven’t seen all the sides of the character. To be able to have a character in the media for so long and still keep things fresh says a lot about just how interesting the character is.

Still, what Tarantino gave was his opinion and I won’t hate on him for that. I might not understand or agree with it, but I certainly won’t hate on the man for it.

Do Tarantino’s thoughts resonate with you or is he completely insane? Was Michael Keaton really the best Batman?! Sound off in the comments!

Source: IGN

More movie trailer madness, my lovelies! This time around, we see the return of Hercules to the silver screen in Hercules: The Legend Begins, directed by Die Hard 2 director Renny Harlin. I say Die Hard 2, because, well, that is the most memorable film in his entire résumé. So you can take that however you want, and keep it for yourself. Take a look at this trailer, and let’s sit down in our thinking chair and think. (That’s a Blues Clues reference for all you kiddies out there.)

The weirdest thing about the trailer is how expensively cheap this looks. You can see that the production value of this trailer is rather large, yet in the beginning I thought I was watching a video game. It’s like they were going for a discount Zack Snyder look, where the color palette is hyper-stylized. We see these epic sets and battles that seem to be on a pretty large scale, yet the special effects on them are shockingly amateurish, particularly the part where he calls upon his lightning powers. That part looks like it was done in Microsoft Paint. Also, the thing that bothered me the most was the lack of blood. In a movie about the son of Zeus, who is a demi-god with super strength that participates in brutal Gladiator-esque battles, you would want to see him rip people in half.

In terms of the direction, it just seems all too generic for me, to a laughable degree. It feels like this is a producer’s project rather than a director’s project. The producers probably have seen films like 300 and Gladiator, and decided to pull certain elements from them and bland them in (pun) to this film. 300 especially, because I want you to look me straight in the eyes, and tell me that their armor with the red capes doesn’t remind you of Spartans. For that task, they needed a director who will take a project because hey, you gotta eat right? When I mentioned that it was done by ‘Die Hard 2 director Renny Harlin’, it says a lot about his résumé. The only other film that I remember him doing was Deep Blue Sea, and I only remember it because of a great moment Samuel L. Jackson had, involving a shark interrupting his monologue. If your most memorable film, was a forgettable sequel made 23 years ago, doesn’t sound too promising.

As for the main actor playing good ole Herc, I’m not completely sold. Kellan Lutz has been around for a while on TV and other films, but his claim to fame (not really) was his role in Twilight, where he played a member of the Cullen family. If the twist in this film is that Hercules is a vampire… that would really suck (BREAKING NEWS: Brian Salisbury beats intern to a bloody pulp for atrocious humor). In all seriousness, he doesn’t seem like a leading man to me. There is also another Hercules that is coming out entitled Hercules: The Thracian Wars staring Dwayne ~~‘The Rock’~~ Johnson, directed by Brett Ratner. Dwayne seems like an awesome choice because he just has a lot of charisma, and I could see him play a demi-god because yeah, he’s freakin’ huge. That being said, I saw Kellan play an actual god, Poseidon, in the film Immortals, and admittedly, even though the film itself was alright, he was pretty badass in it. So he may not be as awesome of a choice as the Rock, but he might be good enough just to get the job done, and that’s what the producers need.

So fellow OOU.Netties! Who would you want to cast as Hercules? Are you going to see this film? Whatever it is, comment below, and let One of Us know!

Welcome to episode 3 of INTERN-net News, with your Host Chris Harrison!

There is a vast pool of exciting news every week, and in our effort to bring you brand new, engaging content join me as I discuss the weekly news and gossip in film, TV, comic books and anything else that gets us talking.

This week we’ve got Doctor Who Anniversary news along with copious amounts of Breaking Bad and Star Wars discussion. Beware of potential mild spoilers for the Breaking Bad finale!

Most importantly, this show is all about you. Get involved in the discussion, tell us what you think about these stories and if there’s a story you want to create conversation about then throw a question my way either on Twitter or right here each week.

Tell your friends to join The INTERN-Net!

Follow Chris on Twitter: @Chris_Harrison_

Recently, one of our intrepid leaders, the great and mighty Brian Salisbury, was invited to participate in Ain’t It Cool News‘ under-appreciated horror film series, Ain’t It Scary Reviews. The co-founder of One of Us chose to review Fred Dekker’s Night of the Creeps, a 1986 Tristar Pictures film starring Jason Lively, Jill Whitlow, and Tom Atkins.

Brian describes the film as “an amazing amalgam of everything we love about the ’80s, as well as ’50s B-sci-fi movies rolled into one” and “so scary it made all my hair fall out!”* Check out the review and Brian’s bald head below! Also, be sure to spread it around the internet like space slugs spreading the zombie plague!

*This quote might be slightly less than real.

Are you ready for some football? And by that I of course mean, are you ready to join a bunch of sports nerds for some football?

Tonight, the guys from Inside the Locker will bring you a live commentary for the Monday Night Football showdown between The San Diego Chargers and the Indianapolis Colts. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and we’ll begin our broadcast around 7pm central.

The guys have reached out to two of their friends to join them on the show: Tyler (an Indiana native and die-hard Colts fan) & Andrew (originally from San Diego and a man who regularly and proudly sings the Super Charger theme song). We’re gonna see what happens when we cram these two in a room to commentate from opposite sides of the fan line.

In addition we’ll be perusing the recent sports headlines, playing The Crossover, updating you on the ITL Fantasy Football situation, and updating the Pensieve. We will also discuss some of our favorite geek rivalries during the commentary.

It’s Kirk vs. Picard, Batman vs. Superman, Kramer vs. Kramer…all wrapped up in Colts vs. Chargers.

Tune in!

One of the most persistent criticisms of DC Comics’ New 52 re-launch was the abrupt removal of some of the franchise’s most notable characters from their titles. Loyal readers were outraged when icons such as Wally West and Plastic Man were nowhere to found in the revamped titles. The internet’s vitriol was especially caustic when Stephanie Brown, an incredibly popular member of the Bat-Family who started her crime-fighting career as the Spoiler and went on to serve as a Robin and a Batgirl, was replaced with a fully-healed Barbara Gordon and all but erased from the DC Universe.

In response to demands for Stephanie Brown’s return, DC Comics’ lead Bat-scribe Scott Snyder announced the franchise’s decision to right this grievous wrong at a New York Comic Con panel on Friday. Answering questions about DC’s new weekly Batman series, Batman: Eternal, a Stephanie Brown enthusiast inquired about the character’s fate. Snyder had this to say:

“Your love for Stephanie Brown has been so inspiring to us, she’s a character we really love, and we’re proud to announce she’ll be coming back in this series! Tynion found a way to bring Spoiler into the story and into the New 52, and it’s really perfect.”

Brown will make her New 52 entrance in Batman: Eternal #3, slated for release this spring.

After a seemingly endless string of PR-disasters, excessive editorial interference, bland event comics, and an overall disappointing series terrible story decisions, the return of Stephanie Brown is the best news out of DC Comics since the start of the New 52. Brown is an incredible character with a rich history and untold potential. Her return to comics is a credit to her supporters’ dedication and persistence.

In addition, this is the type of smart maneuver that can win back the support of jaded DC readers like me. I have dropped every New 52 series except for Batgirl (thanks entirely to Gail Simone’s writing) and I was not planning on coming back to DC until after a major shakeup in management. However, I will certainly give Batman: Eternal a chance because I want to see how Brown’s return is handled. I can only hope for a well-written and organically-planned re-emergence of a character who deserves a much better hand than she has been dealt. Given DC Comics’ infamously toxic working environment, I have concerns about Stephanie Brown’s future, but I choose to hope for the best.

How do you feel about Stephanie Brown’s return to Gotham City? Am I setting myself up for disappointment? Is DC going to the Lucy to my Charlie Brown, using Stephanie Brown as the football?! Let us know in the comments!

Via Comics Alliance and Superhero Hype

I haven’t watched much of the animated Clone Wars series, but I have gotten more into the show in the later seasons, especially with the (spoiler) return of Darth Maul and the darker tone it has adopted. Many were disappointed with the news of Disney’s decision to cancel the show, but the blow was softened with the announcement of a brand new animated series set between Episode III and IV, entitled Star Wars: Rebels

This week, we had some new content drop for the show. Primarily set on a planet called Lothal, the show will be set fourteen years after episode III and will feature an Empire that, at this point, especially in the inner system is generally favoured as a welcome change bringing peace and stability. This hope begins to unravel as the Empire begins to expand and tighten its grip, beginning with Lothal. A very short teaser trailer was released;

Along with this, we had the bigger reveal of the main protagonist of the show – The Inquisitor.

An “Intimidating” figure dressed in an all black, almost shadow trooper outfit. Described as someone who is hired by Darth Vader “to hunt down the remaining Jedi Knights”, The Inquisitor is a character who has been hidden up until now. You can watch his reveal in this video interview with producer Dave Filoni.

For me, the character seems like a cross between Tion Medon and Grand Admiral Thrawn. I also note that although the reveal doesn’t describe him as a Sith, or someone prevalent in the Force yet, just like Darth Maul he clearly wields a double sided lightsabre. This could be an exciting product, my only worry is the fact that it is being produced for the Disney XD channel.

Source: USA Today

Are you excited for Rebels? Do you think it can capture the success of the original trilogy or should it remain in the Sarlacc pit? Comment below.

Isn’t the simple name “Episode VII” already appetizing enough to get butts in seats? Apparently, franchise consistency says no.

According to Latino-Review.com, a trusted source when it comes to spilling geek property rumors, George Lucas’s story treatments for the next trilogy of films in the Star Wars saga sold to Disney included two tentative subtitles: Rise of the Jedi and Return of the Sith. This follows recent news of Lucas’s son, Jett, confirming that his father was working on the film’s story sometime before the Disney-Lucasfilm acquisition, and that he trusts director J.J. Abrams’s team will handle it well. Given that the film will take place after the events of Return of the Jedi, the sixth film in the series’s chronology, the titles are in line with the Expanded Universe ideas of the Jedi Order being reformed or the Sith taking shape once again. However, it has been made clear that Michael Arndt’s screenplay will be an original story and not adhere to the three-decades’s worth of material. Episode VII is scheduled to film early next year and is slated for a 2015 release.

To be frank, these titles aren’t the best or most creative in the world, but let’s see if we can nail down which one would be the most fitting in terms of staying power. Rise of the Jedi comes off as confusingly redundant seeing how the Jedi had officially “returned” in the previous film, and the fact that this and Return of the Jedi are technically neighboring films in the series makes putting them next to each other a bit of an eyesore. Conversely, Return of the Sith may recall too much of Return of the Jedi, but it has a nice ironic touch to it that adds more impact to the eternal struggle of the Jedi and the Sith. The Sith first defeated the Jedi and remained in control of the galaxy for quite some time, but then the tables turned later on and the Jedi came back to restore balance. Presuming that some more time has passed since their victory, it would be more foreboding to have the Sith not exact revenge, but to return once more. That’s my take, anyway, so feel free to call me out on finding too much justification for an admittedly unoriginal title. But hey, I’ve been a Star Wars fan since birth, so what can you do?

What do you guys think? Which of these two titles is the best in your opinion? Do you think you can come up with a better one? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

Via Latino-Review.com

Big Finishing Move: “Doctor Who: Phantasmagoria” Review

One of the Galaxy’s Heroes May Sit Out ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’

Tarantino has some surprising things to say about Batman and ‘The Lone Ranger’

‘Hercules: The Legend Begins’ Feels Mighty Familiar

YOUTUBE: INTERN-Net News episode Three

Welcome to episode 3 of INTERN-net News, with your Host Chris Harrison!

There is a vast pool of exciting news every week, and in our effort to bring you brand new, engaging content join me as I discuss the weekly news and gossip in film, TV, comic books and anything else that gets us talking.

This week we’ve got Doctor Who Anniversary news along with copious amounts of Breaking Bad and Star Wars discussion. Beware of potential mild spoilers for the Breaking Bad finale!

Most importantly, this show is all about you. Get involved in the discussion, tell us what you think about these stories and if there’s a story you want to create conversation about then throw a question my way either on Twitter or right here each week.

Tell your friends to join The INTERN-Net!

Video: One of Us’ Brian Salisbury Reviews ‘Night of the Creeps’ for AICN!

Inside the Locker: Monday Night Football Commentary!

Are you ready for some football? And by that I of course mean, are you ready to join a bunch of sports nerds for some football?

Tonight, the guys from Inside the Locker will bring you a live commentary for the Monday Night Football showdown between The San Diego Chargers and the Indianapolis Colts. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and we’ll begin our broadcast around 7pm central.

In addition we’ll be perusing the recent sports headlines, playing The Crossover, updating you on the ITL Fantasy Football situation, and updating the Pensieve. We will also discuss some of our favorite geek rivalries during the commentary.

It’s Kirk vs. Picard, Batman vs. Superman, Kramer vs. Kramer…all wrapped up in Colts vs. Chargers.

Tune in!

Spoiler Alert! A Beloved Hero Returns to Gotham City in ‘Batman: Eternal’

‘Star Wars Rebels’ details and villain revealed

‘Star Wars Episode VII’: Attack of the Titles